Welcome Connor!

My newest nephew, Connor, was born at 7:37 am today.  He's 7 lb 12 oz and 20.5 inches long.  I can't wait to meet him in person!

Hike #3: Tiger Creek Preserve

I'm a few hikes behind now - that's what happens when you forget to blog for a week or two.  Here's my layout and description of our third hike, an 8.4 mile hike in Tiger Creek Preserve in Babson Park.

Hike #3, Tiger Creek Preserve (#31 in the book), consisted of two trails covering 7 different habitats.  We found the first trail head, the George Clooney Trail, immediately on our left when we turned onto Pfundstein Rd.  The parking was along the roadside rather than in a real lot.  It was a warm day so I wore short sleeves and my hiking pants.  I grabbed the index card for the first trail and we moved out.

This first trail, a .7 mile hike, had several side trails that ended with a dead-end “End of Trail” sign (which the book noted and the instructions were to take the trails to the end and then backtrack).  The diamond markers promised to mark our path were nonexistent but the path was short and not that difficult to follow so soon we were on our way.  We came across a seating area with wooden benches and took a side trail.  On the first side trail there were some odd marks in the ground which Lisa informed me were signs of wild hogs, which rut in the ground. Now we were a little nervous, not really keen to come across wild hogs (or coyotes or bobcats, whose tracks we also saw during our hike).  Luckily those predators were not among the wildlife we saw today.  I told Lisa that they usually come out at night, which I’m pretty sure is true.

Towards the end of the short walk I did get us a bit lost. I saw what I thought was an observation tower so I walked us in the opposite direction.  It was actually the entrance sign and I was supposed to walk towards it.  We realized that when we got back to the part of the trail where we saw the hog marks.

The longer portion of the hike was still to come - 7.7 miles.  We found the second trail head, The Highlands Trail, further down the road; we drove down a dirt road to get to this one which had a grassy parking lot.  There were maps at the entrance sign which were a big help, since my hand drawn map was pathetic.  There was also a sign-in sheet; Lisa recorded our visit and we started out on our hike around 11:30.

The trail was marked with orange blazes and it was on this hike that we finally learned how to follow blazes (paint markings on trees and metal poles and sometimes orange flags).  Always keep your eye on the next blaze; a double blaze means an abrupt and sharp turn in the trail.  We planned to take one side trail which was marked with blue blazes.

The trail was sometimes dirt and sometimes sand (where it crossed with a jeep trail).  It was not as hilly as Catfish Creek Preserve but not flat.  We walked to an intersection where the 1 mile side trail we wanted was clearly marked to the left.  We headed left and followed the blue blazes across a cute and fairly long bridge with no railings.  On the other side we surprised a flock of quail which came bursting out of the scrub scaring Lisa (who was still focused on bobcats, coyotes, and serial killers).  This side trail was quite cozy, with trees surrounding us and a nice carpeted floor lined with lichen, a type of moss, which dried with the absence of rain.  We often heard rustling in the bushes but we didn’t see anything.

The side trail was a circle and we ended up back at the bridge.  We crossed back over; the picture for this hike is on that bridge.  Back at the trail sign we walked over to the main trail, once again following orange blazes.  This section was 6.3 miles (that sounded a little scary).  We were now in terrain that symbolizes the Lake Wales Ridge: sandy, hilly, and open.  There wasn’t much tree coverage and it was sunny; sun block would have been a good idea.

A little ways into the trail we heard a loud noise in the shrubs.  We stopped to look and there was a big gopher tortoise staring at us.  As we whipped out our cameras he ran forward and slid down into his burrow.  We weren’t fast enough to get a picture of him, but we did get a picture of his home.

This was the best marked trail we’ve been on; it was easy to follow the orange blazes.  Sometimes there were arrows and mile markers to show how far we’d walked.  Halfway around this loop we heard crashing in the brush and looked over to see two large deer bounding through the scrub, flipping up their tails as they disappeared into the trees.  So cool! 

The hike was beautiful but it was long and we started to feel it at mile 5.  We were thankful to come to the end of the big loop and even more happy when we came out of the main trail back to the starting path, but too happy I think because this is where we almost got lost and forgot to follow the blazes.  Using Lisa’s phone navigation, which worked out here in the boondocks, we got back on track.  The last mile was painful – Lisa couldn’t stand up straight and my ankle had stiffened and felt so sore.  We collapsed in the car where I had one last bottle of water to guzzle.  We finished around 2:30, so the entire 8.4 mile hike took 3.5 hours.

Layout credits:

Kit - Believe by Ruth Davis

Fonts - PC Brita, PC Chessie Dash

Birthdays and Anniversaries - All About the Love

Today is my mom's birthday - Happy Birthday Mom!  In 1947 my grandmother blessed this world with my mother and though not all the years in between then and now have been kind to her, she has maintained a kind heart towards others.  My mother is a blessing in our lives. 

Today is also my marriage anniversary (not to be confused with my wedding anniversary, which is in July, lol).  12 years ago today my husband and I took an inpromptu trip down to the courthouse and made it legal.  It was the best decision we ever made.  And it was a lot easier to plan a wedding with a man who was already my husband, lol.

There are all kinds of love in this world, and we should all be thankful for each one we have the chance to experience.  I have some love-themed layouts to share with you all today, and if you need more inspiration the Feb 6 blog entry at E-Scape and Scrap was all about the love.

Bee Mine 4-Ever

using kit My Honey by The Busy Elf Designs

My What-4 List

using kit My Honey by The Busy Elf Designs

2 Sisters - 2 Friends

using Count on Me Papers and Elements by Julie Mead

8 Isn't Enough

using Count on Me Papers and Elements by Julie Mead

They're here!

I've finished my first 3 hiking layouts - the title page for the album and layouts covering hikes 1 & 2.  I know you've been waiting for them.  The journaling on the pages is basically the original blog entries, so I'm not reprinting that here.  You can just go look at the earlier blog entries.  :-)

We didn't get to hike last weekend because of technical difficulties, but we're headed back out again tomorrow!

Title page:

Supplies used: The Fairy Glen Fantasy Paper Set by Scrapdragon Designs, Family Roots by Scrapdragon Designs.

On the double-layouts below I used pictures from the hike to blend behind the left pages for interest to the journaling pages.  On the right pages I used papers from The Fairy Glen Fantasy Paper Set to blend behind the pages to add texture to the solid papers.
Hike #1: Circle B Bar Reserve

Supplies used: The Fairy Glen Fantasy Paper Set by Scrapdragon Designs, Folded Papers - Jewel Brights by Scrapdragon Designs

Hike #2: Catfish Creek Preserve

Supplies used: The Fairy Glen Fantasy Paper Set by Scrapdragon Designs, Folded Papers - Jewel Brights by Scrapdragon Designs

Groundhog Day

The bottom line - no shadow = end of winter.  I think that's something everyone is looking forward to this year.  Good old P. Phil has our backs.

Speaking of Groundhog Day, it's one of my favorite movies. If you haven't seen it, starring Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell, you should check it out for some sweet and silly laughs.

February is here and that begins the parade of birthdays that march through this month for our family.  Uncle Vern and Brian both have birthdays today to start it off.  If you can believe it, on top of all the existing birthdays Nicole is purposely creating another February birthday.  She literally scheduled a birthday in February - she's having a C-Section on Feb 24 so that New Baby Hickey can share a birthday with his Uncle John.  :-)